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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced Wednesday he wants New Jersey to rely more on offshore electric wind generation to help the state cut its greenhouse gas emissions and run on renewable energy to fight climate change. Murphy, appearing alongside New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in New York City, said the new goal is for the state to increase offshore electric..
Energy Central…
The post With Vogtle Completion in Sight, Southern Company Targets Net-Zero Carbon Emissions appeared first on POWER Magazine.
Fresh off the announcement that the final module for Vogtle Unit 3 was placed at the nuclear expansion project in Georgia, Southern Company said on May 27 that it was setting “a long-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.”
The announcement was made during Southern Company’s annual stockholders meeting, which was held as an online event this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company also reaffirmed its intermediate goal of a 50% reduction of GHG emissions from 2007 levels by 2030.
“I continue to be confident that we are prepared and well-positioned to meet the needs of our customers, employees, communities and investors well into the future and will succeed in the transition to a net-zero carbon future,” Tom Fanning, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company, said in a statement. “As always, we are committed to providing clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy to the customers we are privileged to serve.”…
President Trump campaigned on a promise to reduce regulation and control regulatory costs. One of his first actions after taking office was to issue an executive order calling for the elimination of two existing regulations for every one new regulation issued. Toward that end, the Trump administration has acted or sought to reverse more than 70 environmental rules. Among them are several Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations governing air, water, and waste emissions from the nation’s power plants. Here’s where those rules stand today. Notes: FIP = federal implementation plan; SIP = state implementation plan. Sources: Environmental Integrity Project, Environmental Law at Harvard, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School
The EPA released a proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan in October 2017, saying the rule “exceeds the agency’s statutory authority.” In July 2018, the EPA sent a replacement plan to President Trump for review, saying it would seek public comment on the new measure after a White House review is completed but it did not provide a timeline.…
Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) members agreed to join their longtime rival and governing partner, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and reluctantly entered into a third grand coalition government on March 4. While this ended months of anxious handwringing following September’s national elections, the entire process was mired in frustration as the prospect of yet another coalition grew more unpopular each day.
While the only idea more unfavorable was another national election (with the fear that rightwing parties would gain even more support), at the ceremony announcing the SPD’s decision to again join the CDU, there was virtually no applause. Much like a resigned patient about to undergo chemotherapy, the general mood among both SPD and CDU party members (and the general population) was one of begrudging willingness without any marked enthusiasm. Following years of coalition experience behind them, neither party seemed excited to rejoin the partnership and, its fair to say, the new ruling coalition is both weaker and more unpopular now than prior to elections.…